Addressing such questions as "Are You Saved, or Are You Presbyterian?" and "Is the Bible the Literal Word of God or Just a Long, Boring Book?" this is an easy-to-understand, slightly irreverent appraoch to theology and the kind of theological musings that many youth and others have today.Bring Presbyterian in the Bible Belt Todayhelps Presbyterian young people articulate their faith and respond to these questions from a mainline point of view.
Addressing such questions as "Are You Saved, or Are You Presbyterian?" and "Is the Bible the Literal Word of God or Just a Long, Boring Book?" this is an easy-to-understand, slightly irreverent appraoch to theology and the kind of theological musings that many youth and others have today. Bring Presbyterian in the Bible Belt Today helps Presbyterian young people articulate their faith and respond to these questions from a mainline point of view.
In his classic work, life-long Presbyterian and former pastor Jim Angell tells what it means to be a Presbyterian. This readable, accessible book is divided into six parts--key ideas, commitment, witness, order, discipline, and covenant--and includes a handy glossary to commonly used Presbyterian terms. Now updated with the most recent statistics and polity information, this is an ideal book to give to new members, confirmation students, and inquirers in PC(USA) churches.
What does “missional” mean for small Christian communities in a deeply secular society? Leading missiologist Stefan Paas asks what missional spirituality could possibly mean for today’s local church. This fully revised new international edition will make this an important introduction to contemporary thinking on mission and the church.
In this fresh and fascinating chronicle of Christianity in the contemporary South, historian and minister James Hudnut-Beumler draws on extensive interviews and his own personal journeys throughout the region over the past decade to present a comprehensive portrait of the South's long-dominant religion. Hudnut-Beumler traveled to both rural and urban communities, listening to the faithful talk about their lives and beliefs. What he heard pushes hard against prevailing notions of southern Christianity as an evangelical Protestant monolith so predominant as to be unremarkable. True, outside of a few spots, no non-Christian group forms more than six-tenths of one percent of a state's population in what Hudnut-Beumler calls the Now South. Drilling deeper, however, he discovers an unexpected, blossoming diversity in theology, practice, and outlook among southern Christians. He finds, alongside traditional Baptists, black and white, growing numbers of Christians exemplifying changes that no one could have predicted even just forty years ago, from congregations of LGBT-supportive evangelicals and Spanish-language church services to a Christian homeschooling movement so robust in some places that it may rival public education in terms of acceptance. He also finds sharp struggles and political divisions among those trying to reconcile such Christian values as morality and forgiveness—the aftermath of the mass shooting at Charleston's Emanuel A.M.E. Church in 2015 forming just one example. This book makes clear that understanding the twenty-first-century South means recognizing many kinds of southern Christianities.
Social and religious historians have conducted much research on Scottish colonial migrations to Ulster; however, there remains historical debate as to whether the Irish Sea in the seventeenth century was an intervening obstacle or a transportation artery. Vann presents a geographical perspective on the topic, showing that most population flows involving southwest Scotland during the first half of the seventeenth century were directed across the Irish Sea via centuries-old sea routes that had allowed for the formation of evolving cultural areas. As political or religious motivational factors presented themselves in the last half of that century, Vann holds, the established social and familial links stretched along those sea routes facilitated chain migration that led to the birth of a Protestant Ulster-Scots community. Vann also shows how this community constituted itself along religious and institutional rubrics of dissent from the Church of England, Church of Scotland, and Church of Ireland.
Written in a humorous, accessible style, this book is an easy-to-understand guide to the kinds of theological questions that many United Methodist youth and others are asking today. Being United Methodist in the Bible Belt will help any United Methodist youth, parent, or educator better understand their unique brand of Christianity in light of the understandings of those from the evangelical tradition. With helpful sidebars explaining United Methodist history and polity and questions after each chapter for reflection and action, this book is ideal for Christian education courses for youth and adults, new member classes in United Methodist churches, as well as personal reading.
An Atlanta-born son of a rabbi describes his year-long spiritual quest during which he reinvigorated his flagging enthusiasm for orthodox Judaism by touring Christian pop culture venues.
By reconstructing the religious crusade to achieve prohibition in Texas, Making the Bible Belt reveals how southern religious leaders overcame longstanding anticlerical traditions, built a formidable social movement, and, in the course of outlawing liquor, injected religion irreversibly into public life.
Slavery is wrong. Women can be doctors. Women can wear pants. These are truths that most Americans today would agree are unambiguous. But there was a time in this country when each of those statements resulted in vicious criticism. When she wore pants, Amelia Bloomer was a “hussy,” subjected to jeers and catcalls. As the only female doctor in the entire western United States, Bethenia Owens was so unpopular that she was threatened with tar and feathers and driven out of town. And when Jonathan Walker was caught helping escaped slaves, he was branded with the letters “SS,” for “slave stealer.” Today we recognize these unpopular ones as both brave and in the right. Their stories remind young readers that sometimes it is important to speak out against the popular opinions of the time. What are those opinions in today’s world? These fifteen men and women set stunning examples of standing up for what's right. Be inspired by their courage and perseverance when up against the odds. Whose unpopular beliefs today will be the truths of tomorrow? Will you be one of the unpopular ones?
